Death in the City of Light

Paris during World War II seems to have made it back on my list again. Death in the City of Lights is no ordinary WWII read, though: it's the true account of a serial killer, Marcel Petiot, preying on a cross-section of Parisians (for example, Jews fleeing Nazis as well as gangsters and prostitutes) at the height of the Occupation. Not only that, but the serial killer is a seemingly well-respected physician with connections to both the Resistance and the Underworld.

David King's telling is meticulously researched and recounted. In all of my previous reading of Paris during the war years, I had never heard this story, which is quite remarkable, not least because even today authorities are unsure of how many individuals Petiot killed - at least 26, but possibly as many as 150. (The uncertainty is due to the ways in which people simply disappeared during the war, a terrifying history in and of itself which bears thinking about.) King begins this book with the gruesome discovery of the bodies, then weaves the tangled web that confronted the authorities (full disclosure: I skipped the paragraphs that appeared to have too high an "ick factor" for me). At times I was as confused as Inspector Massu and Company must have been, but with his prodigious research, King does a fine job of untangling the web in an Epilogue that provides reasonable and satisfactory answers to most questions.

Death in the City of  Light is well-written and provides fascinating insight into the relationship between the various factions in Paris during the War. However, I did have two complaints. The first, which probably could not be entirely helped is that the cast of characters is tremendously long and I had a hard time remembering the relationships between them. (This is further compounded by the fact that many of them have additional code names or aliases and so even keeping straight, for example that Petiot is also Captain Valeri, Dr. Eugene, and Dr. Watterwald!)  In other cases, a character may disappear for hundreds of pages before reappearing, in which case I was grateful to be reading this on my Nook, which enabled me to do a quick search and remind myself who the person in question was. Obviously the latter instances could have been more easily addressed by the author than the former. My second complaint was that, once this book moved into the trial phase, it became a bit lopsided: some of the best passages come from the trial, which was aptly described as a "circus" at the time, but some of the most tedious passages are also contained in those chapters.

I think this is a great read for anyone looking to gain deeper insight into World War II Paris or those who would like to read something that's a bit "off the beaten path," so to speak. A more casual reader, less interested in the workings of the Occupation or mid-twentieth century Paris, may find it less enjoyable.